Adrian Grenier shows off a 3-D virtual reality ocean journey at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Tex.Credit Courtesy of Dell

Grenier, who last year signed on as the “social good advocate” for Dell, was there with the company’s sustainability and supply-chain directors and a remarkable virtual-reality “ride,” for lack of a better description, in which goggle-wearing people siting in vibrating, hissing chairs plunge deep beneath the sea. They are greeted by shoals of fish, carpets of plastic pollution, the booms of seismic probes used to prospect for oil and an imagined rendering of a “lonely whale” that I wrote about long ago. That whale, detected because its voice was at a 52-hertz frequency distinct from other large cetaceans, is the subject of a film and multimedia project that Grenier has been developing with the filmmakers Josh Zeman and Lucy Cooper.

While visiting the Dell venue in Austin, I also learned about a planned push by the company to develop packaging out of plastic retrieved from the seas, which is sadly sufficiently abundant off Asia’s Pacific shores to be seen as a resource — although hopefully not a renewable one for much longer! You can learn more about that below. (This isn’t the first look at low-impact packaging by Dell, which was one of the first big companies to try shipping delicate gear using packaging made of wheat straw, bamboo and mushrooms — the latter produced by Ecovative, a start-up I wrote about in 2012.)

Finally, I was reminded that the deadline is quickly approaching (March 31) for a “Legacy of Good” documentary film contest developed by Dell, Grenier and other partners — with the goal of creating short videos describing the merits of building a “circular economy.” A 2014 article in The Times neatly summarizes that concept:

In a traditional linear economy, products are made from raw materials and everything — byproduct waste and product alike — ends in the scrap heap. In a circular economy, the product is made from recycled materials and ends up being recycled itself.

I’ve alerted this year’s crop of Pace University documentary students along with veterans of the last five years of environmental filmmaking by our program. I hope you’ll spread the word, as well.

And here’s some background from Dell on its effort to test whether there’s a way to reliably, practical way to turn the masses of plastic we’ve added to the oceans into something useful back on shore:

We are in the process of conducting a feasibility study to determine if we will be able to use recycled plastics from oceans and waterways in Dell product packaging, which is our goal. The feasibility study should be completed in six months, the results of which will determine whether we will be able to move to the pilot phase. A pilot would run approximately 4-6 months.

We are confirming the material characteristics needed to meet our and third-party performance and environmental standards, such as EPEAT, and will test supplier samples for quality.

We are currently evaluating potential suppliers and exploring supply chain process options including manufacturing and tooling and sourcing “ocean plastics” near the point of origin.

The ultimate goal is to establish a commercial-scale “ocean plastics” supply chain, and one that is in full compliance with local laws, the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) Code of Conduct and the Dell Code of Conduct….

Dell is committed to putting technology and expertise to work where it can do the most good for people and the planet. As such, we will share our recycled “ocean plastics” supply chain knowledge with the broader industry upon completion of the feasibility study and/or pilot phase.

Plastic waste in the oceans is a growing environmental and health concern for the ocean ecosystem including whales, fish, reefs and humans. According to a study published in Science in February 2015, 8 million tons of plastics waste ended up in the ocean from coastal countries in 2010 and it is on target to increase tenfold by 2025. Per this same study, the top sources by total volume of plastic waste flowing into the ocean are located primarily in Southeast Asia, led by China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

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By 2050 or so, the human population is expected to pass nine billion. Those billions will be seeking food, water and other resources on a planet where humans are already shaping climate and the web of life. Dot Earth was created by Andrew Revkin in October 2007 -- in part with support from a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship -- to explore ways to balance human needs and the planet's limits.